In mathematical logic, Beth definability is a result that connects implicit definability of a property to its explicit definability. Specifically Beth definability states that the two senses of definability are equivalent. First-order logic has the Beth definability property.

Statement

For first-order logic, the theorem states that, given a theory T in the language L' ⊇ L and a formula φ in L' , then the following are equivalent: Less formally: a property is implicitly definable in a theory in language L (via a formula φ of an extended language L' ) only if that property is explicitly definable in that theory (by formula ψ in the original language L). Clearly the converse holds as well, so that we have an equivalence between implicit and explicit definability. That is, a "property" is explicitly definable with respect to a theory if and only if it is implicitly definable. The theorem does not hold if the condition is restricted to finite models. We may have A ⊨ φ[a] if and only if B ⊨ φ[a] for all pairs A,B of finite models without there being any L-formula ψ equivalent to φ modulo T. The result was first proven by Evert Willem Beth.

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